Gabriel Jesus scored his first goal in English football as Manchester City took advantage of their rivals dropping points with a 4-0 win away at West Ham United.
The Brazil international assisted Kevin de Bruyne for the opener and tapped home Raheem Sterling’s deft pass to claim City’s third goal.
‘You never know. It’s like a watermelon. You have to open to see if it’s good or not,’ said Guardiola about Jesus, who started ahead of Sergio Aguero.
‘The prospect was good. He’s a young player. But he’s had a huge mentality.’
David Silva claimed the second goal as the visitors took advantage of slack defending by the hosts.
Yaya Toure added a fourth after the break, converting from the spot after Sterling was tripped by Hammers debutant Jose Fonte.
‘He played a few minutes against Tottenham and created chances and it’s not easy to play at Crystal Palace. Gabriel Jesus is a fighter with instinct for the goal. He’s good at assists too. He made a marvellous assist against Palace and today with Kevin de Bruyne,’ concluded Guardiola.
With Arsenal losing at home to Watford, Spurs drawing at Sunderland, Liverpool drawing with Chelsea and Manchester United being held 0-0 by Hull City, Man City’s win closes the gap between themselves and the other teams in the top five.
Pep Guardiola’s side remain in fifth place but they are only one point behind Tottenham Hotspur in second.
City’s crosstown rivals enjoyed no such success in front of goals at Old Trafford as Hull’s Eldin Jakupovic was the hero as the Tigers held Manchester United to a goalless draw.
The Bosnian-born Swiss keeper produced acrobatic saves to deny Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Juan Mata either side of the break.
Despite being penned in for much of the second half, the visitors came close to stealing all three points when debutant Lazar Markovic hit the post in the closing stages.
The draw leaves Jose Mourinho’s side four points adrift of the Champions League places and 14 points off leaders Chelsea.
Hull close the gap on Crystal Palace but remain in 19th place on 17 points.
Peter Crouch scored his 100th Premier League goal as Stoke City extended their unbeaten run to four Premier League matches with a 1-1 draw at home to Everton.
Crouch slid in to steer home Marko Arnautovic’s centre with only seven minutes gone to become the 26th player to reach a century of goals in PL history.
Everton goalkeeper Joel Robles did well to twice deny Arnautovic before the Toffees equalised six minutes before half-time when Seamus Coleman’s cross was diverted into the net by defender Ryan Shawcross.
Striker Saido Berahino came on to make his Stoke City debut as the home side searched for a winner in the second half but Potters goalkeeper Lee Grant saved well from Ademola Lookman and Tom Davies as the sides played out a draw.
Credit: premierleague.com
